What if?

I’m currently teaching an online course titled Spiritual Formation, which is required in all Point University online degree programs. Last week, our focus was on the idea of God-awareness and how that can impact our growth as believers. (About five years ago, I spent a good bit of time during the summer trying to discover what a spiritually maturing Point graduate should look like. The outcome of that research suggested that self-awareness, God-awareness, Kingdom-awareness, global-awareness, and creation-awareness were important components to answering that question.)

Various Point faculty members did a fifteen-minute video on each of these five topics, and we used the God-awareness video to introduce the material for this week. In that video, Dr. Holly Carey, the faculty member who created the video, suggested that God-awareness can help create virtues like gratitude, simplicity, and solitude. After watching that video, reading from a couple of different textbooks on the topic, and completing some other assignments, students were asked, in a discussion forum, to choose one of the three virtues to work on during this session of the semester. Most picked solitude, followed by simplicity, and then gratitude. In explaining their choice, nearly everyone, in one way or another, said something like, “life is too busy; life is hectic; I waste time on social media, YouTube, etc…” For some, “I’m working full-time, have a family, and am going to school” was the reason. Most are also engaged in their local churches.

The truth of the matter may be that all of us reading this devotion today might very well be able to say something very similar. We know we have much for which to be grateful. We know we get too wrapped up in stuff that makes life complicated, not simple. We seldom discover even a minute of real solitude.

Yet, as several students suggested, busyness keeps getting in the way.

Is that your story, and mine, as well? There is a good chance many of us will say, “yes.”

Wednesday, 14 February, is the beginning of Lent. Lent is an ancient practice created by believers, perhaps for much the same reason. At some level, a fair Lenten question might be, “What could I give up in order to get my focus back where it belongs?” That you didn’t grow up in a faith group that regularly practices Lent doesn’t mean that you aren’t allowed to give Lent a try, nor does it mean that you don’t need the spiritual discipline of Lent.

The more I read my students’ posts, the more I became convinced that the timing of this class and the timing of the season of Lent could prove to be a blessing. (I call that providence!) Sometimes we ask people to make all but impossible commitments, which likely sets them up for failure. So I started responding to my students with something like this: “Could you find fifteen minutes a day during Lent – that 40-day period (not counting Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter – that you could give up a distraction and give to God either gratitude, solitude, or simplicity?” 

I’m confident some of these students will say yes to that question. Believing that I should never ask others to do what I’m unwilling to do, I will find those fifteen minutes daily, as well. I think I’m going to focus on solitude. I often go outside at night for evening prayers, but the cold weather has slowed that process down in recent months. I’m going to renew that practice for Lent.

Here’s what I’m wondering: what if every believer reading this devotion – whether you grew up following the Christian calendar or have never even heard of the Christian calendar and things like Lent – what if we all offered fifteen minutes a day expressing more gratitude, simplifying our lives, or making time for solitude?

I’m confident that would change our lives. If we do something for 40 days, we might very well have created a new habit or discipline in life. I’m confident it would improve our families, our churches, and who knows – we might start a movement that could change our culture!

I hope you will join me.

_{^{Image by Gini George from Pixabay}}